Method of making a package sleeve bearing

ABSTRACT

A method of making a package sleeve bearing that includes the steps of providing inner and outer bearing races, cutting a length of rod into a plurality of pieces of predetermined lengths, forming the pieces under pressure into arcuate bearing elements, and assembling the bearing elements between the inner and outer races in a manner to rotatably journal the outer race on the inner race.

United States Patent 1 Abel [ METHOD OF MAKING A PACKAGE SLEEVE BEARING [76] Inventor: Martin L. Abel, 25235 Canterbury,

Franklin, Mich. 48025 [22] Filed: Oct. 4, 1971 [2]] App]. No.: 186,470

Related (1.8. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 7,032, Jan. 30, I970, Pat. No.

[52] 0.5. CI. ..29/149.5 R, 303/361 [51] Int. Cl. ..B2ld 53/10 [58] Field of Search ..29/l49.5 R, 149.5 NM,

29/1495 PM, 148.4 A; 308/72, 36.1; 252/14 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,761,746 9/1956 Abel ..308/72 [451 Apr. 17, 1973 2,966,459 12/1960 Abel ..252/l4 3,255,510 6/1966 Josephson et al, ...29/l49.5 NM 3,256,049 6/1966 Josephson ..308/36.l 3,466,244 9/1969 Abel Primary Examiner-Thomas l-l. Eager Att0rney-Lane, Aitken, Dunner and Ziems [57] ABSTRACT A method of making a package sleeve bearing that includes the steps of providing inner and outer bearing races, cutting a length of rod into a plurality of pieces of predetermined lengths, forming the pieces under pressure into arcuate bearing elements, and assembling the bearing elements between the inner and outer races in a manner to rotatably journal the outer race on the inner race.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED 71975 3127,27? v FIG. 2.

FIG. 3.

METHOD OF MAKING A PACKAGE SLEEVE BEARING This is a division, of application Ser. No. 7,032 filed Jan. 30, 1970, which issued on April 11, 1972, as US. Pat. No. 3,655,249.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to sleeve bearings and more particularly to a method of making self contained package sleeve bearing which can be marketed in the same manner as, and used in place of, ball bearings.

My earlier US. Pat. No. 2,761,746 granted on Sept. 4, 1956, entitled Pillow Block discloses a self contained package sleeve bearing which employs a sintered metal bearing material having a low PV rating, the PV rating being the product of the load on the bearing in pounds per square inch multiplied by the surface velocity in feet per minute. The US. Pat. to Josephson, et al No. 3,256,049 granted on June 14, 1966, and entitled Sliding Surface Bearing discloses another type of package sleeve bearing and a method for making the bearing. It employs a sintered bearing material which is molded about the inner race under pressure. The sintered material is a special bearing material designed to increase the PV rating of the package sleeve bearing.

The inner and outer races of the Josephsen, et al bearing are made of steel and are similar to the inner and outer races of ball bearings. The bearing is packed with an oil impregnated wicking material which is sealed in the bearing by rubber sealing rings. The bearing is designed to be made in a range of different sizes so that it can be marketed in the same manner as, and used in place of, ball and roller bearings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method of making a self contained, self lubricating package sleeve bearing of the type described above which is economical and simple in construction, and yet provides a high quality package sleeve bearing having a high PV rating. The bearing comprises a steel outer race rotatably journalled on a steel inner race by a solid aluminum metal bearing. It is packed with oil impregnated wicking material and recirculates the oil to lubricate the bearing substantially for the life of the bearing. The bearing oil is a special blend designed specifically for lubricating sliding aluminum bearing surfaces.

The aluminum metal bearing comprises a plurality of arcuate bearing elements cut and formed from an extruded aluminum wire or rod. The bearing elements are assembled between the inner and outer races in a manner to provide limited universal movement between the inner and outer races to compensate for shaft misalignment.

The invention herein is directed to the method of making a package sleeve bearing. The method includes the steps of providing inner and outer bearing races, cutting a length of rod into a plurality of pieces of predetermined lengths, forming the pieces under pressure into arcuate bearing elements, and assembling the bearing elements between the inner and outer races in a manner to rotatably journal the outer race on the inner race.

ing embodying features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one of the arcuate bearing elements of the bearing of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1-3, a package sleeve bearing 10 is shown which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention. It comprises an outer race 12, an inner race 14 and three arcuate bearing elements l6, l8 and 20 made of aluminum. The inner and outer races preferably are made of steel and are similar to the inner and outer races of conventional ball bearings.

The inner race has a cylindrical inner surface 22 chamfered at both ends as at 24 and 26. The outer race has a cylindrical outer surface 28 chamfered at both ends as at 30 and 32. The cylindrical surfaces 22 and 28 are carefully sized so that the bearing will fit accurately within a cylindrical bore in a supporting body for rotatably joumalling a shaft on the body in the same manner as a ball bearing. The chamfers 30 and 32 facilitate the insertion of the outer race into the bore and the chamfers 24 and 26 facilitate the insertion of the shaft into the inner race.

The outer surface of the inner race 14 is cylindrical and is provided with a pair of axially spaced, radial flanges 34 and 36 positioned inwardly of the ends of the inner race; The flanges 34 and! 36 have sloping, inwardly presenting, thrust surfaces 38 and 40 which slidably engage sloping thrust surfaces 42 and 44, respectively, on the arcuate bearing elements 16-20. The inner cylindrical surface 46 of each of the arcuate bearing elements slidably engages the portion of the outer cylindrical surface 48 of the inner race between the flanges 34 and 36.

Each of the bearing elements is formed with a spherical outer surface 50 which engages a spherical inner surface 52 on the outer race to provide limited universal movement between the inner and outer races to compensate for shaft misalignment. This movement is frictionally restrained by the tight fit between the parts so that the bearing elemtns are restrained against rotation relative to the outer race while the inner race rotatesrelative to the bearing elements. I

A pair of washer shaped oil cups 54 and 56 are fixed in recesses in the ends of the outer race and the ends of the outer race are peaned over as at 58 to lock. the oil cups in position. The inner periphery of each of the oil cups closely overlies the cylindrical surface of the inner race outwardly of the flanges 34 and 36. In the e'tnbodi ment shown the oil cups 54 and 56 are made of metal and a slight clearance is provided at the inner. race. However, if desired, the oil cups :may be made out of a rubber or plastic material which engage the inner race in a manner to provide a sliding seal. An oil impregnating wicking material, which will bedescribed in greater detail hereinafter, is packed in the space between the oil cups 54 and 56 and the arcuate bearing elements.

Since the bearing elements are identical, only the bearing element 16 shown in FIG. 3 in perspective will be described in detail. The ends of the bearing element 16 are notched as at 60 and 62 to cooperate with the adjacent bearing elements to provide axial slots between bearing elements which are filled with the oil impregnated. An arcuate recess 64 is formed in each side face of the bearing element. The outer surface is provided with the spherical surface 50, and the inner surface of the bearing element is provided with the cylindrical surface 46 and the sloping thrust surfaces 42 and 44, as previously described.

Each of the bearing elements is made from an extruded aluminum wire or rod having the cross section substantially as shown in FIG. 2, but without the arcuate recesses 64. The aluminum rod is cut to length and the notches 60 and 62 are cut out. The cut length of rod is then cold formed into the arcuate configuration by suitable dies. During the forming operation the arcuate recesses are coined or pressed into the sides of the arcuate element by male die elements which move axially toward one another and compress the bearing element therebetween. The coining of these arcuate recesses facilitates the movement of metal needed to form very accurately the final desired shape for the bearing element, including the spherical outer surface and the inner bearing and thrust surfaces.

As shown in FIG. 1 a slightly resilient spacer 66 is positioned between the abutting ends of each of the arcuate bearing elements. This facilitates assembly and enables the bearing elements to float a little and thus improve the fit with the bearing surface. To assemble the package sleeve bearing 10, two of the arcuate bearing elements are positioned on the inner race and this assembly is inserted into the outer race 12 with the axes of the inner and outer races perpendicular to one another, taking advantage of the gap in the space to be occupied by the third bearing element. After the inner race and two bearing elements have been inserted in this manner, and while the axes are still perpendicular, the inner race is rotated about its axis until the spherical surfaces on both bearing elements slidably engage the spherical inner surface of the outer race. This positions the gap between the two bearing elements outside of the outer race. The third bearing element is then positioned in this gap and the inner race is rotated so that its axis coincides with the axis of the outer race and all three bearing elements are positioned within the outer race. The oil impregnated wicking material is then packed in the bearing, as will be described, and the oil cups 54 and 56 are inserted and locked in position by the peaned over portions 58, as previously described.

The wicking material can be a felt or other wicking material, but preferably comprises cellulose fibers as described in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 2,966,459 granted on Dec. 27, 1960 and No. 3,466,244 granted on Sept. 9, 1969. However, the bearing oil which is mixed with these fibers is a bearing oil specially blended for lubricating aluminum bearings. Examples of such aluminum bearing oils are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,941 granted on Sept. 28, 1965 and entitled Olefin-Unsaturated Ester Lubricants, U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,940 granted on Mar. 19, 1962 and entitled Lubricating Compositions and Methods of Lubricating,

and U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,027 granted on Dec. 29, 1965 and entitled Lubricants and Lubricated Structures. In the embodiment shown, the aluminum bearing oil is mixed with the cellulose fibers described in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,466,244 to form a mixture of the aluminum bearing oil and fibers in the proportions described which can be injected in a well known manner into the assembled bearing. Since the oil impregnated wicking material used in the bearing 10 is the same as that described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,466,244 with the exception that a known aluminum bearing oil is used in place of the bearing oil disclosed in my patent, the mixture will not be described in greater detail.

The aluminum oil impregnated wicking material fills the axial slots between the bearing elements and contacts the cylindrical surface 48 and the sloping thrust surfaces 38 and 40 of the inner race. The material also fills the coined arcuate recesses 64 and extends in a complete annulus on each face of the bearing elements so as to connect the material in the axial slots with the material in the coined arcuate recesses. Any oil which escapes from the thrust surfaces is thrown radially outward into the annulus of oil impregnated wicking material overlying each of the radial flanges 34 and 36 so that the oil is reabsorbed by the wicking material and recirculated back to the sliding bearing surfaces. This provides a completely self contained recirculating system which will lubricate the bearing for a long period of time.

Referring to FIG. 4, a bearing is shown which illustrates another embodiment of the invention. It comprises an outer race 12 identical to the outer race of the bearing 10, a one piece aluminum metal bearing element 72 and an inner race 74. The bearing element 72 has flat side walls 76 and 78 and a plurality of circumferentially spaced axial slots 80 which communicate with the spherical inner surface 52 of the outer race. A radial passage 82 is provided for communicating each of the axial slots 80 with the cylindrical outer surface of the inner race 74. A radial flange 84 near one end of the inner race slidably engages the face 76 of the bearing element 72. A washer shaped thrust element 86 is slipped on the other end of the inner race and is locked against a shoulder 88 on the inner race by the peaned over end 82 of the inner race.

With this construction the bearing ring can be slipped over the inner bearing race 74 against the flange 84 and the thrust element 86 thereafter locked in place to fix the bearing element against axial movement relative to the inner race.

As shown in FIG. 4 two of the axial slots 80 are diametrically opposed to one another. These diametrically opposed axial slots are wide enough to enable the one piece bearing element 72 to be inserted into the outer race 12 with its axis perpendicular to the axis of the outer race and, thereafter, rotated 90 to align the axes and retain the bearing ring within the outer race. The oil impregnated wicking material is packed in the bearing and the oil cups 54 and 56 are mounted on the outer race, as previously described. The oil impregnated wicking material fills the axial slots 80 and the radial passages 82 and forms complete annuluses on both end faces of the bearing ring.

may thereafter be cold worked, rolled, hot worked, ex-

truded or machined into another configuration does not change the fact that it is a cast metal as contrasted to a sintered metal, for example.

I claim:

1. A method of making a package sleeve bearing, which includes the steps of, providing inner and outer bearing races, cutting a length of aluminum rod into a plurality of pieces of predetermined lengths, forming said pieces under pressure into arcuate bearing elements, and assembling said bearing elements between said inner and outer races in a manner to rotatably journal the outer race on the inner race. 

1. A method of making a package sleeve bearing, which includes the steps of, providing inner and outer bearing races, cutting a length of aluminum rod into a plurality of pieces of predetermined lengths, forming said pieces under pressure into arcuate bearing elements, and assembling said bearing elements between said inner and outer races in a manner to rotatably journal the outer race on the inner race. 